Weren't people saying this of a certain Robert Brady (Ireland, Republic of) in his first stint with us?
People really had it in for Brady at one point. I felt like I was the only person who rated him for a while.
Yeah, but to be right, when you rated him he was poor. (Tongue in cheek smiley needed) Brady always had a lot of ability, but he has improved no end this season.
And with that in mind, maybe if Sterling came here, Bruce (Senior) could work his undoubted man management skills on him (thinking of Brady, Mcshane to name two)
Those of us who obviously know our **** were behind Brady all the way. It amazed me how many people said they wouldn't take him for 300k after looking impressive if inconsistent in his maiden season at 18 years old. Have these people never watched the development of a young player before?
We seem to be talking about two different things here: on the one hand a young player learning his trade and on the other a young man who's in and out of court and leaves in his wake a trail of bruised or impregnated women. On-field and off-field issues respectively, in other words.
Last week I was hoping Brady would come on and get down to line and get crosses in. All he did when he came on was drift into the middle and didn't cross once.
No, we're talking about the same thing. Young men that have a talent that are / were pissing about an wasting it, until someone gets hold of them. Bruce has shaped Brady, who I seem to remember had off field issues with Man U - albeit not to same degree as the other young man. Could he do the same with Sterling? Possibly .. he has a track record of taking in all sorts of waifs and strays, not just with City, but the other clubs he's been at as well.
All the posts on here about Brady are about his game, though, which is refreshing. To be honest I don't recall any talk about off-field issues with him in his first season either. My main concern is disruption to the fantastic team spirit Bruce has developed - the camaraderie between the players is superb and must be seen as a major reason behind both the promotion and the strong start to this season.
And you know what, that is why I don't think Bruce (Senior) would touch him with a barge pole. There'll be some he knows he might tame and some he can't (comments re Cattermole for example ?)
Sterling just needs to to grow up, look at Ravel Morrison, an utter **** but finally pulled his thumb out, realised what he's got going for himself and got his head down and cracked on with it. Now he's starting to look a real player. Sterling will probably be the same, we were all ****s at his age, eventually you just grow out of it.
Or end up like Paul Gascoigne, but the way the game has gone over the last 10/20 years, I can't see many managers allowing a player to turn in to a Paul Gascoigne and keep his career.
